The media personality Stephen A. Smith often makes headlines for his controversial views on various matters. Apart from politics, Smith is widely discussed for his questionable opinions about athletes and sports in general. Speaking of athletes, LeBron James has been under Smith’s scrutiny for quite a while now. Recently, the four-time NBA champion criticized Memphis and appeared unenthusiastic about playing in the city.
As it’s normal for people to have an opinion, Stephen A. Smith clapped back at James over this statement and took the conversation in a different direction, linking it with race. Now, as per The Spun, Charles Barkley has responded to his longtime friend and fellow sports media personality. He said that the NBA player simply said he doesn’t like Memphis, and people, including Stephen, unnecessarily made it controversial.
Barkley, in his The Steam Room podcast, took a shot at Smith, saying, “LeBron said he didn’t like Memphis or Milwaukee. And for some reason, everybody went crazy on the Memphis part because then they turned it into race, which is the best way to get idiots and fools talking about anything.” In Barkley’s view, the race card is something that can spark an unnecessary debate about anything without a proper context.
Barkley backed James for having an opinion and advised Stephen A. Smith to do better
Charles Barkley didn’t just stop there and continued with his statement; he added, “Every loser in the world wants to be racist. And Stephen A. jumped in, Jason Whitlock jumped in, Cam Newton jumped in, Ryan Clark jumped in, and Matt Barnes dropped in. Oh, these are all brothers. Yo, man. What the f*** are you all doing, man? LeBron don’t like Memphis. Okay!” With these words, he not only called out Smith but also mentioned Warlock, Cam, Ryan, and Matt, who also weighed in on the situation with views similar to Stephen’s.
Coming back to what LeBron James said, he didn’t criticize the citizens of Memphis; in fact, he appreciated them. However, he called out the city’s hotels, amenities, and physical comfort, calling everything unenjoyable. He even jokes that the Grizzlies should relocate to Nashville, as, according to the athlete, it has better amenities. These words may sound harsh to those living in the city, but they don’t appear to be doing anything with the race.
On these comments, Smith, who also criticized another NBA player on his weight, was quick to say, “We can’t throw shade on LeBron until we take into account knowing that 63 percent of the people there are black, knowing that they need this team to continue to help fuel the economy, the local economy there, as opposed to big up in Nashville, and saying, ‘Why don’t you just go there?’ not thinking of the citizens at all.”
As someone who usually takes shots at James, this sounds like just another attempt from Smith’s side to call the four-time champion out. However, the player’s criticism of the city doesn’t appear to mention its people, which seems to support Barkley’s response. Following his statement, Charles also said, “Stephen A., you’re one of the most successful people we have in television. Come on, man. Y’all got to do better, man.”
With that, he seemingly ended his response. Stephen A. Smith often comes up with back-to-back responses on a debate, but as of yet, he hasn’t responded to his fellow sports media personality.
Published: Apr 16, 2026 12:00 pm